we all fall down
by ladyoftheknightley
Summary: History has a habit of repeating itself. Teddy Lupin falls, like his mother did before him. But Andromeda thinks that sometimes, falling is the best thing that can happen. x.For the 2012 Hogwarts Games, Women's Tennis.x


So much of her daughter's life seemed to revolve around falling.

When she was three, "Mummy, mummy, I falled in!" was shouted triumphantly across the beach at Margate, as a wringing wet Metamorphangus trotted after her father, who was shaking his head apologetically at her.

"We'll do a drying spell when we get out of the open," Ted murmured to her. "She'll be right as ninepence."

She was falling again when she was six: "Mummy, mummy, I fell over and got mud all up my legs but I scored the winning goal I did, and Tommy Sheridan said he-" and more and more gabbling about the Junior League football match that Ted had taken her to. Little Nymphadora, despite her clumsiness, was quite the footballer, much to her father's delight.

By the time she was nine, she'd grown out of playing football, but not of watching it. Or falling. "Mummy, we saw them wallop the Wednesday then I got a wallop because I fell down the stairs in the stands and I broke my arm, and Dad had to take me to Mungo's on the way home oh and can I go and play at the Weasley's house on Tuesday, because Charlie said-"

"It's alright, love, they sorted her out," Ted said, reassuring as ever, over the top of their daughter's chatter.

He misinterpreted her frowns though - she wasn't cross with her daughter for falling and ruining yet _another_ pair of clothes, or even worried about her broken bone. Once she'd been assured that a Healer had seen to any significant ailments, Andromeda generally stopped worrying, for little Nymphadora had a remarkable ability to simply bounce back from most injuries. No, her frowns (though she would never admit it) were because she was jealous.

When she was growing up, messes weren't allowed. Nor was falling into the sea, or into mud, or loud shrieks of excitement when playing games, or _anything_ loud and fun. Her parents were firm believers in the dictum that children should be seen and not heard, and doing anything that drew undue attention was frowned upon.

She still had vague memories of her mother refusing to allow the house elves to nurse Narcissa when she had dragon pox until she stopped crying. In the Black household, even illness was supposed to be conducted with decorum.

She supposed that some parents might think that Nymphadora was spoiled. Certainly, Ted spoiled her in the way all fathers are want to do with their daughters - he thought that she was his beginning and his end, and he would have given her the moon if he could. But they never had very much money spare, once they'd paid for rent and food and other necessities, and that stopped him from buying her everything he wanted to. They were not hard done by, exactly, but Nymphadora had mostly second hand textbooks, and her mother's old Gobstones set and a broomstick that was several years out of date. No, it was she who really spoiled Nymphadora: her daughter was allowed to run around and be loud and messy and exuberant and all the things that she, Andromeda, had not been allowed to during her own childhood.

In the end, though, she had stopped seeking permission for the things she wanted to do and just done them anyway. Falling in love with Ted was the best thing that had ever happened to her (until her daughter was born), as it gave her an escape route - and someone to escape with. Perhaps the reason that she was as unconcerned as she was with Nymphadora's ability to fall all the time was because she knew that falling - really, truly falling, head over heels - could sometimes be the best thing she could do.

(She saw herself reflected in her daughter when Nymphadora fell for Remus; like her mother, she fell hard and fast and in love with someone slightly unsuitable. But she bit back her concerns once she saw how much Remus loved her daughter - after all, she did _not_ want to turn into her own mother - and she was the one who persuaded Nymphadora that Remus should be taken back, for she had also seen how much the werewolf had fallen for her daughter. Remus also understood her need to magically pad the floor of their house, to protect both Dora and the baby she was carrying, when she inevitably tripped and fell.)

* * *

Two years, three months and twenty-five days after the day the war had ended (and the bottom had fallen out of her world), Andromeda was stood on that same Margate beach, half-watching as Harry picked up a laughing, squealing Teddy who had just fallen in the sea. The late summer sun hung low in the sky, but it was memories, not the brightness, that were blinding her, and she had to look away.

"He looks happy," her sister observed from her vantage point on top of a large rock.

Andromeda had been reluctant to let Narcissa back into her life after the war's end, but the other woman's gentle persuasion had resulted in her eventually relenting. Really, she thought, she had lost so much, there was no point in shutting out the little she had left. And besides, the Malfoy family were technically under house arrest because of their involvement in the war, and Narcissa had only been allowed out to accompany her to the beach because Harry - a Deputy in the Auror Department - was present.

"They both do," she agreed.

"It makes you realise how much we missed out on, when we were growing up," Narcissa continued, folding her robes around herself to protect from the wind, which was chilly despite the fact that it wasn't yet September. "We never got the chance to do any of that...mucking about stuff, did we?"

Andromeda smiled as Harry swung Teddy around pretending to throw him into the sea. The little boy - his hair jet black today, in honour of his godfather - could be heard shrieking delightedly from several hundred yards away. "We didn't," she said eventually, turning back to her sister. "But I'm so glad Nymphadora got to. I always made sure she had the most _childlike_ childhood. We couldn't afford to buy her many presents, but she got to run and play and be young in a way we never did. And it made a difference to me." Narcissa remained silent, so she continued. "I'm not saying I tried to relive my own childhood through her, or anything - that would be foolish. Just that I'm glad I had the opportunity to let her have the chances we missed out on."

"I didn't," Narcissa said, still staring out to the sea where Harry and Teddy were playing, oblivious to their conversation. "I should have let Draco do the things we missed out on, but...I just didn't. And I think that I failed as a mother because of that - more than I failed by allowing him to get caught up in the war. Seeing Teddy...I think that's my biggest regret. That I never allowed him to play, and have fun. His childhood was just a repeat of ours."

"We weren't unhappy all the time when we were children," said Andromeda. "We never got to play like Teddy and Dora, but me and you and Bella...we were thick as thieves until we started going off to school."

"We were, and that's what made things bearable," agreed Narcissa. "But Draco is an only child - he didn't have what we had."

"I'm sure he was still happy, though," replied Andromeda. "He was -_ is_ - loved."

"Of course, and that is important," Narcissa said. "But he never got to...to..."

"Fall?" suggested Andromeda, as in the distance, Teddy tripped and fell into a wave, Harry hovering mere inches behind him to make sure he was okay.

"Yes," sighed Narcissa. Andromeda reached over and squeezed her hand.

"He was loved," she repeated. "And that is the most important thing."

"Mmm," agreed her sister. After a moment, she brightened. "Speaking of love, you know, I really think he's connected with the Greengrass girl - Astoria, the younger one. I'm not sure if you could say it's _love_ yet, but they definitely have something. I'm trying to think of an excuse to have her over, to set them up together. And maybe I could make sure-"

"No," Andromeda cut across her, shaking her head. Narcissa looked up in surprise.

"No?" she repeated.

"No," said Andromeda. "If there's something there, let it happen naturally. Let him fall for her, and she for him. Falling is the best thing you can do, sometimes."

* * *

_'Walloping the Wednesday' is a colloquial English for beating Sheffield Wednesday at football. I've always imagined Ted Tonks as being from North Yorkshire, so he'd probably support Middlesbrough. Minehead is a popular holiday resort in Kent. This was written for the Women's Tennis (write about any member of the Black family) in the 2012 Hogwarts Games at HPFC. Nothing you recognise belongs to me. _

_Please review!_


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